Madison Black Wolf

Northern League (1996-2000)

Tombstone

Born: 1995 – Northern League expansion franchise
Moved: 2001 (Lincoln Saltdogs)

First Game: May 31, 1996 (W 12-5 vs. Sioux City Explorers)
Last Game: September 2, 2000 (L 6-3 vs. Duluth-Superior Dukes)

Northern League Championships: None

Stadium

Warner Park (3,375)¹

Dimensions (1996): Left: 335′, Center: 400′, Right: 335′²

Branding

Mascot: Willie B. Wild (the Wolf)

Ownership & Affiliation

Owners: Patrick Sweeney, Jimmy Buffett, et al.

Major League Affiliation: Independent

Attendance

Madison’s season attendance of 46,433 for the club’s final season in 2000 was the lowest recorded by a team during the Northern League’s 18-year history from 1993 to 2010.

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Print Download

Source: 2008 Northern League Media Guide & Record Book

Background

Madison, Wisconsin lost minor league baseball in 1994 when the Madison Hatters of the Midwest League moved to Battle Creek, Michigan. Warner Park sat empty during the summer of 1995 before a group led by local attorney Patrick Sweeney brought pro baseball back to town in 1996. The new ball club was the Madison Black Wolf, an expansion team in the independent Northern League. Sweeney and his partners – who included singer Jimmy Buffett – paid a $500,000 entry fee to join the four-year old league.

Unlike the Midwest League, where Madison hosted farm clubs of the Oakland Athletics and St. Louis Cardinals from 1982 to 1994, the Northern League was “independent”. This meant that none of the clubs had an affiliation with a Major League Baseball parent club. The quality of play in the Northern League was considered equivalent to a Class A farm club in the affiliated minor leagues, but the indy circuit occasionally made headlines during the 1990’s by attracting ex-Major League All-Stars looking to pro long their careers, such as Darryl Strawberry, Jack Morris, Pedro Guerrero and Leon Durham.

The biggest name on the Black Wolf was former Major League center fielder Alex Cole. Cole stole 40 bases for the Cleveland Indians as a rookie phenom in 1990 and (briefly) inspired Indians management to move back the fences at Municipal Stadium. Cole’s Major League career faded by 1996 and he played a couple of dozen games for the Black Wolf in 1997.

Move to Nebraska & Aftermath

The Black Wolf lasted five summers in Madison. They made the playoffs during their debut season in 1996, losing to the St. Paul Saints in the first round. From 1997 to 2000, the team endured four straight losing campaigns under managers Wayne Krenchicki and “Dirty” Al Gallagher. The franchise was sold and relocated to Lincoln, Nebraska in 2001. The club continues to operate today as the Lincoln Saltdogs.

Professional baseball has never returned to Madison since the demise of the Black Wolf after the 2000 season. However, Warner Park now hosts the Madison Mallards amateur team in the Northwoods League, which is one of the most popular and successful collegiate wooden bat franchises in the country.